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Next Version of iTunes Restores Local Contact and Calendar Syncing

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Apple today seeded a new version of 10.9.3 to employees, reports 9to5Mac, but more importantly, the company also launched a new iTunes 11.1.6 beta, which includes an important syncing feature that has been missing since the launch of Mavericks.

According to the release notes, iTunes 11.1.6 "restores the ability to sync contacts and calendar information to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from your Mac running OS X 10.9.3."

When iOS 7 and Mavericks were introduced back in September, Apple removed local syncing in favor of cloud syncing, allowing users to sync calendars, contacts, bookmarks, and notes only via iCloud. Many users were unhappy with the feature removal and their inability to sync information to their iOS devices using their Macs.

Apple's Support Communities has a 212 page thread on the issue, and MacRumors has received multiple complaints about the removal of local sync since Mavericks was released. It appears that the next version of Mavericks and iTunes 11.1.6 will restore the feature, once again allowing users to sync locally.

At the current point in time, iTunes 11.16 and the newest version of OS X 10.9.3 are only available to Apple employees, but the betas should be seeded to developers in the near future.

Article Link: Next Version of iTunes Restores Local Contact and Calendar Syncing
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/18/itunes-beta-local-syncing/
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
This would be a very quick 10.9.3 update if they're already seeding it out to employees.
 
M

meme1255

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2012
742
594
Czechia
Someone FiNALLY understood that they just can't do they whatever they want?
Now just fix remaining bugs in Mavericks and everyone will be happy :)
 
N

newagemac

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2010
2,091
23
Not sure why anyone would go through the time and hassle of doing that anymore but I guess whatever floats your boat.
 
Dulcimer

Dulcimer

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
892
695
I just read an article yesterday about how tech companies are forcing us to use their cloud solutions, of which we have no control. The author included the example of how Apple removed local Calendar sync through iTunes and forced iCloud on its users.

Glad to see that Apple is reversing its decision.
 
dumastudetto

dumastudetto

macrumors 603
Aug 28, 2013
5,017
7,135
Los Angeles, USA
Seriously who is still using iTunes to sync Contacts and Calendars in this day and age? :eek: iCloud does everything you need and is the most reliable cloud syncing service on earth.
 
2

2457282

Suspended
Dec 6, 2012
3,327
3,015
I have to be honest and tell you that I did not even realize the feature was missing. I rarely connect my iPhones or iPad to the Mac. Pretty much I do all my syncing through iCloud. What advantage is there of doing a local sync at this point?

By sharing through the iCloud my wife and I can share the same calendar across our 5 combined devices and we have had no issues.
 
P

pmz

macrumors 68000
Nov 18, 2009
1,949
0
NJ
"Had no idea this was missing, since I use iCloud instead." -Everyone
 
longofest

longofest

Editor emeritus
Jul 10, 2003
2,924
1,682
Falls Church, VA
Wow! Amazing how much innovation we've seen from Apple today. 8GB iPhone 5C, iPad 4, and now this! They are just kicking Google's butt when it comes to innovation :rolleyes:

I kid. kind of.
 
Nermal

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,632
3,987
New Zealand
dumastudetto said:
Seriously who is still using iTunes to sync Contacts and Calendars in this day and age? :eek: iCloud does everything you need and is the most reliable cloud syncing service on earth.
Click to expand...

There can be valid reasons for doing it locally. Imagine for example a one-person business that wants to sync their customers' phone numbers from their computer to their phone. It's a violation of privacy law to give those details to a third-party so it therefore must happen locally.

Edit: I've had a few responses to this. It's based on my own understanding of the NZ Privacy Act which I was led to believe forbade the disclosure of personal information to third-parties without express permission. I could be wrong; I'm certainly not a lawyer, but that's my understanding of the local law. This document appears to back this up, as this disclosure doesn't appear to meet any of those criteria.
 
Last edited:
R

Rigby

macrumors 603
Aug 5, 2008
6,222
10,168
San Jose, CA
dumastudetto said:
Seriously who is still using iTunes to sync Contacts and Calendars in this day and age? :eek: iCloud does everything you need and is the most reliable cloud syncing service on earth.
Click to expand...
People who have confidential contacts or appointments that are not suitable for the cloud (where the information is potentially accessible by hackers, government agencies, and Apple). Think lawyers, investigative journalists, business people without a corporate exchange server etc.
 
Parasprite

Parasprite

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2013
1,698
144
MacRumors said:
According to the release notes, iTunes 11.1.6 "restores the ability to sync contacts and calendar information to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from your Mac running OS X 10.9.3."
Click to expand...

I went all iCloud sometime during 10.8.x and I tried to change it back to local in ~10.9.1.

I thought I was going crazy trying to figure out how to do it, that explains a lot...
 
O

octothorpe8

macrumors 6502
Feb 27, 2014
424
0
I'm syncing contacts through Google (CardDAV) and calendars through iCloud, but I guess it's cool they're restoring this. Myself, I don't miss much the days of having stuff on my iPhone (or, at the time, my iPod Touch) outdated because I haven't synced with my Mac at home.
 
2

2457282

Suspended
Dec 6, 2012
3,327
3,015
macrumor, you forgot a decimal point at the end of the article. Unless of course there really is a 11.16 beta out there -- that would be a serious rumor :D
 
V

Voch

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2006
54
0
Nice to hear that it's coming back as I was using local syncing for contacts and calendars until it was removed from iTunes. The removal got me to pony up the $20 for OS X Server and it's been great. Using CalDAV, CardDAV, and Mail to sync calendars/reminders, contacts, and notes with my "server" Mac to my other Macs and iOS devices. Works great for those not ready to "cloud" yet.
 
rockstarjoe

rockstarjoe

macrumors 6502a
Jun 2, 2006
875
76
washington dc
Cool. Now I'd like it if they added back an iPhoto feature that they removed, the ability to share your Library locally on a network (like you can share your library in iTunes). Can't believe they removed such a useful feature in the first place.
 
RyanFromQA

RyanFromQA

macrumors member
May 15, 2008
40
20
newagemac said:
Not sure why anyone would go through the time and hassle of doing that anymore but I guess whatever floats your boat.
Click to expand...

This week I'm between phones and I'm using my backup (an iPhone 3G). Google Exchange is no longer available, iCloud doesn't work on the phone, and contact sync on Gmail accounts didn't exist back then so . . . . this is my only option. I actually emailed myself a VCF of all my contacts last night because this limitation.
 
SvP

SvP

macrumors 6502
Mar 31, 2009
464
122
Nermal said:
There can be valid reasons for doing it locally. Imagine for example a one-person business that wants to sync their customers' phone numbers from their computer to their phone. It's a violation of privacy law to give those details to a third-party so it therefore must happen locally.
Click to expand...

Can you give me some citation or source? I don't think it's true..
 
snorkelman

snorkelman

Cancelled
Oct 25, 2010
666
155
are they restoring sync services in full or just cobbling up some sort of itunes only sync for contacts and calendars?

As I understood it the problem went a whole lot deeper than just folks using itunes to sync those two items to an ios device (i.e. 3rd party apps for other phones etc that used sync services as their underlying framework for local sync?)
 
A

Adamsappel

macrumors regular
Mar 12, 2014
117
0
newagemac said:
Not sure why anyone would go through the time and hassle of doing that anymore but I guess whatever floats your boat.
Click to expand...

Here I show how a few hundred million users will be needing it for another decade at least.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1717279/
 
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